Little Naman arrives at his grandparents' home in Mumbai, India to celebrate his third Diwali. Mr. Sharma his grandfather is ecstatic. One morning Mr. Sharma invites Naman to participate in an early morning pooja and arti to Lord Krishna. Naman wakes up early; brushes his teeth and rushes to the small temple room. Mr. Sharma's eyes light upon seeing his grandchild early in the morning. Naman takes a corner seat, silently observing all poojas being done by his grandfather.
As soon as his grandfather lights the lamp (diya) for arti , Naman gets up from his place and quickly blow it off. Mr. Sharma gets little shocked; he calls, Nayana, Naman's mother, to take him away. On other day also the same thing happened; and even on the third day. Mr. Sharma decides to perform the arti alone. The conservative members of family start looking at the boy as an atheist.
Diwali arrives. Sharma residence is decorated with garlands and bright diyas. But Naman is at it again, blowing away every single one that it can reach out to. The family is shocked and also little irritated with the kid.
Naman's parents are very sound by nature. They are very concerned about their child's behavior. They know that Naman is not against God or any offerings to God. Because he sits with interest during other rituals of pooja done by his grandfather. They are trying to find out the actual cause of this kind of action. They start talking with Naman about his particular behavior by asking him various questions. They often make him understand the blowing away diya is inauspicious.
Finally one day, Naman's parents asked him directly but very softly and sweetly that why does he blow away the diyas when Grandpa is offering it to God?
The answer of this little and innocent boy turns out to be an eye opener.
Naman said: "If it is inauspicious then why should we blow away candles on the birthday cake?"
The question in answer of little child speaks a lot.
First thing is, children imitate what they see.
Naman learned that when you celebrate; you blow away the light.
Adopting different cultures for celebrations is not a bad idea--as long as you understand the idea behind it; blindly following anything is nothing short of dumbness. If children like a cake instead of barfis, nothing wrong in preparing a nice, healthy and testy cake. But blowing away lights, that too without understanding the need of it, is not appropriate!
Light is an auspicious and very important aspect of each religion. Hindus light the diyas while doing pooja and aaarti . Christians light the candles. Parasis lamp the fire.
Light is a symbol of knowledge; it removes darkness! Blowing away light is considered as an invitation to darkness, or to ignorance. Then what we try to convey by blowing away the candles on birthday?
When Sharma family came to know about the cause of Naman's behavior, they realized their own mistake. From that day, the decided to stop blowing off cake candles. Instead blowing away the candles they started lighting them up!
